Tech

Microsoft Surface Tablet Team Reveals New Info During Reddit Q&A

Did you miss Reddit's "ask me almost anything" (AMAA) session with the Microsoft Surface team on Tuesday? We've combed through the queries posed to the Microsoft team led by Panos Panay, general manager of Microsoft Surface, and bring you highlights with answers about Surface from Microsoft that we hadn't heard before.

Tuesday (Oct. 16) was the first day for pre-ordering of the Microsoft Surface tablet, and the company filled in lots of blanks about Surface pricing, availability and specs. For instance, the 10.6-inch Microsoft Surface Tablet will cost $499 for the 32GB model, up to $699 for the 64GB tablet. That snazzy Touch Cover keypad will cost you $119 extra, and the Type Cover with its real keys will add $129 to the bottom line.

Beyond that additional info about the Surface offered yesterday, Reddit users had more questions for the Microsoft Surface team, and here we've selected the most illuminating questions and answers from that Reddit "ask me almost anything" session that took place on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. PT:

What do you think will surprise people most when they get to start using or seeing the Surface? What feature are you most proud of and why?

I think the seamless transitions from state to state will be one of the best parts of the device!! As you open the cover, close the cover, flip it back, move into 'get it done mode' it will be an awesome experience. You will find yourself being productive when you need to and you can read, watch movies, and surf when you want to....

I also feel like the kickstand opening and closing will make you smile :-)

I noticed that the Surface has a resolution of 1366×768 vs. the iPad 3 2048×1536. Do you think this will affect users considering the Surface vs. the iPad?

With the ClearType Display technology we took a 3-pronged approach to maximize that perceived resolution and optimize for battery life, weight, and thickness.

First prong, Microsoft has the best pixel rendering technology in the industry (cleartype 1.0 and 2.0) .. these are exclusive and unique to Windows, it smooths text regardless of pixel count.

Lastly we optically bonded the screen with the thinnest optical stack anywhere on the market.. something which is more commonly done on phones we are doing on Surface.

While this is not official, our current Cleartype measurements on the amount of light reflected off the screen is around 5.5%-6.2%, the new iPad has a measurement of 9.9% mirror reflections (see the DisplayMate link). Doing a side-by-side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the iPad with more resolution.

How big is the install of Windows RT? Meaning if I get a 32gb unit, how much free space will I have?

(Ricardo Lopez, Test Manager for Surface RT): After the OS, OfficeRT and a bunch of apps, you will still have more than 20GB. As you say, you can always add an SD card and while you cannot add apps there, you can get music, movies and photos there.

If you flip the cover back, say to rest the tablet flat on a surface or to hold it, is there a mechanism that disables the keyboard so that it's not randomly typing? (This would be when the cover is flipped to the back of the device)?

Yes, absolutely. Both Touch Cover and Type Cover have sensors that understand orientation relative to Surface. In fact, the Type and Touch Covers talk to Surface to figure out their relative position no matter the orientation of gravity of the device (pretty neat!). There are 3 positions modes: Closed (keys and mouse are off), Open to 180 degrees (keyboard and mousepad on), beyond 180 degrees to the back (keys and mouse off). That way you can flip back the covers and feel secure you are not pressing keys by mistake.

Why is there no 3G/4G option for the Surface?

We made what we feel is world-class Wi-Fi connectivity. For 3G/4G we looked at several elements when deciding on what features to include. We knew that the primary use was going to be in the home, we looked at tablet sales data 2/3 Wi-Fi, 1/3 Mobile Broadband. Of the 1/3 sold, 1/2 were activated. Phone hotspot / tethering use was also a consideration.

Why did you and your team chose USB 2.0 instead of USB 3.0?

The full size USB 2.0 port on Surface supports hundreds of millions of devices that are out there... We chose USB 2.0 based on capability of the ARM SoCs during our development timeframe.

Does the kickstand arrangement work for someone who wants to type with Surface on their lap? To me it looks like it's only stable on a table top.

I've been using my Surface for a couple of month now. It works on your lap in multiple ways. Typing on the lap works fine, Surface is great for typing while on your couch. There are so many ways it folds and adjusts to your typing needs. You will be pleasantly surprised. :)

Can you tell me something that'll make me want to shift to your platform? I just can't find a reason. What feature does the Surface have that may not seem like much but makes it amazing to use?

I am not sure what you do on your other devices and cannot comment on it... however, I know that on Surface you can get a ton of stuff done. Given, we have a full operating system in Windows, we have the full suite of Office available, and the seamless transitioning in and out of different user states with touch cover... the ability to use it all day, use a USB port when needed to connect millions of devices, ultimately you have a full PC at your disposal.... you find yourself accomplishing a ton.

Bonus: The Making of Microsoft Surface

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